Colleen Niswender

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center has announced its latest Nicholas Hobbs Discovery Awards, which recognize innovative research to improve the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Colleen Niswender, Dr. Bill Nobis, Audrey Bowden and Laurie Cutting are the recipients for 2025–26, earning support for projects that address Rett syndrome, Dravet syndrome and other developmental epilepsies, and reading difficulties like dyslexia. Read More

Recent research from the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, resulted in the proposal of a novel target and mechanism for improving cognition—a negative symptom—while also treating positive symptoms of the disease. Read More

We often think about diseases in terms of the symptoms they present. A cold might give you the sniffles or even GI distress, while malaria can give you fever, chills, or nausea... Read More

The Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization has honored five faculty members as 2024 Master Innovators for their groundbreaking research and transformative innovations. These pioneers, recognized for achievements spanning patents, startups and impactful technologies, exemplify Vanderbilt's dedication to translating academic excellence into societal advancements. Read More

In just over two years, a Vanderbilt-Neumora collaboration has led to the Phase 1 clinical trial of a treatment for schizophrenia spectrum disorders, which affect 3.7 million adults in the United States. This is the third chemical compound discovered at the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery to reach Phase 1 clinical trials.     Read More

Vanderbilt University research-ers have relieved symptoms of Rett syndrome in a mouse model with a small molecule that works like the dimmer switch in an electrical circuit. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Rett Syndrome Clinic has been named a Rett Syndrome Clinical Research Center of Excellence by Rettsyndrome.org. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have relieved symptoms in a mouse model of Rett syndrome with a drug-like compound that works like the dimmer switch in an electrical circuit. Read More

Colleen Niswender, Ph.D., research associate professor of Pharmacology, has received a three-year, $450,000 grant from the autism science and advocacy organization Autism Speaks to support studies investigating a possible new treatment for Rett syndrome. Read More

Drug-like molecules described by Vanderbilt researchers could lead to Parkinson's treatments with fewer side effects. Read More

The discovery of new compounds that work in a fundamentally different way than those in existing schizophrenia medications may allow for more normal function of brain cells involved in schizophrenia. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in collaboration with Seaside Therapeutics in Cambridge, Mass., have achieved a milestone in the development of a potential new treatment for fragile X syndrome, the most common genetic cause of autism. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has established a new Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery to accelerate research that may lead to new treatments for Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and other disorders of the brain. Read More